In Italy, Mr. Berlusconi, the prime minister, has used an interview on one of his own television channels to accuse Mr. Murdoch of mounting a personal attack through a newspaper owned by the News Corporation, his global media empire.

The articles and editorials in question, in The Times of London, examined the relationship between Mr. Berlusconi, 72, and an 18-year-old model, Noemi Letizia. Mr. Murdoch, appearing on a television channel in New York owned by the News Corporation, discounted Mr. Berlusconi’s claims of a personal attack, calling them nonsense and saying that other newspapers, not owned by his company, have been even more critical.

On that level, the dispute may seem as farcical as the antics on an Italian variety show. But on another, the rivalry between the men is serious, and is heating up.

Mr. Berlusconi is “fearing what Murdoch could do in Italy,” said Fabrizio Perretti, a professor at Bocconi University in Milan who studies the Italian media industry. “And that’s why he accused Murdoch, even if he isn’t really to blame.”

News Corporation owns Sky Italia, a satellite broadcaster that has dominated the pay-television business in Italy since the company was created in 2003. Mr. Berlusconi’s family holding company, Fininvest, is trying to challenge Sky’s hold on pay TV. Despite Sky’s strong position — with more then 4.7 million subscribers, it reaches about a quarter of Italian households — media analysts say changes in the national market could create an opening for Mediaset, a company controlled by Fininvest.

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Silvio Berlusconi, the three-time prime minister of Italy, has accused The Times of London newspaper of personal attacks in its coverage of his relationship with a young model.Credit
Thierry Roge/Reuters

“The competition is going to reach a new level of intensity in the second half of this year,” an analyst at Screen Digest in London, Tim Westcott, said.

Italian television is unusual because the country has virtually no cable service, and new services that send programming over broadband Internet connections — a technology that is growing rapidly elsewhere in Europe — have been slow to catch on.

Not long after Sky Italia was created, Mediaset started a pay-TV service, using encoded signals broadcast digitally, over the regular airwaves. With set-top boxes and prepaid cards, like those that many Italians use to pay for cellphone services, viewers can unscramble the signals, which include broadcasts of top soccer matches.

These customers generally pay much less than Sky’s subscribers, and Mediaset still generates most of its television revenue from advertising on its free channels. But with advertising in decline, it covets the steady stream of income that pay-TV customers provide, and it has mounted a push to convert its 2.9 million cardholders into long-term subscribers, and to attract new customers.

As Italian television switches to digital signals, analysts say, it could be easier for Mediaset to convert viewers into paying customers, because they will already have all the necessary technology in place, while Sky’s service requires the installation of a satellite dish.

But Sky is not standing still. As in other markets, like Britain, where the company runs successful pay-television businesses, Sky is placing a big bet on content in an effort to maintain its dominance.

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Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Times of London, denies having a role in reporting about Mr. Berlusconi. Another point of conflict between them is the next phase of television service in Italy.Credit
Fred Prouser/Reuters

Mr. Berlusconi traces the escalation of the feud with Mr. Murdoch to a decision by the government in December to double the value-added tax levied on Sky to 20 percent.

“I don’t mean to be nasty, but unfortunately with the VAT episode there was a breakdown in relations with the Sky group and with Murdoch’s group, which has published a series of very critical articles attacking me,” Mr. Berlusconi said in an interview on Mediaset’s Canale 5. He appeared to be referring to articles and editorials in The Times, one of which was headlined, “The clown’s mask slips.”

Mr. Murdoch fired back last week in an interview on Fox Business Network. “I don’t control what the editor of The Times says in London or The Economist, which have been attacking him, saying it’s a disgrace to have him as prime minister for the last five years,” he said.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that the clash took so long to develop, given the overlapping interests and larger-than-life personas of the two men.

In the 1990s, between Mr. Berlusconi’s first and second terms as prime minister — he is currently in his third term — he was widely reported to have discussed the sale of Mediaset to Mr. Murdoch, but the two could not agree on a price. The creation of Sky Italia, through the merger of two satellite companies, occurred during Mr. Berlusconi’s second term.

Other European countries have found it hard to support more than one major pay-TV operator, resulting in a wave of consolidation. As the competition heats up in Italy, analysts say the tensions between Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Berlusconi are unlikely to be the last.

“Italy for the next few years is going to be a very interesting television market, both for economic but also for political reasons,” said Augusto Preta, general manager of ITMedia Consulting in Rome.

Correction: June 22, 2009

Because of a transcription error, an article last Monday about the rivalry between Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corporation, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, misquoted Mr. Murdoch’s response to the prime minister, who accused Mr. Murdoch of conducting personal attacks on him through the media. Mr. Murdoch said he did not control what the editor of The Times of London or “The Economist” say about Mr. Berlusconi. He did not say “the economists.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Murdoch-Berlusconi Feud Plays Out in the Media. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe